https://soundcloud.com/thetryingartist/drum-solo

I like listening to this a lot. Not because I think the drumming is good. In fact, this is exactly the sort of drumming I hate – ostentatious, messy, as loud and as fast as possible.

I like listening to it because in the audible flurry of flailing limbs I can clearly picture my technique-less, eager 14 year old self. I can either remember the day I recorded this, or the impression of the recording is so strong that I’ve created a memory to accompany it.

In the room at the top of the house, building up a sweat moving from the computer to the drum kit, making sure the recording isn’t peaking, trying to play faster and faster, probably in summer, feeling like I’m drumming better than I ever have done.

The take you hear was almost definitely chosen not because I finally played it right (I clearly didn’t play it right), but because I got so tired I couldn’t really keep smashing those cymbals any longer.

Nevertheless, it was saved, and named Drum Solo, thereby giving it permission to be seen as a sort of portfolio of my drumming capabilities.

As I got older, I started listening to less rock/indie and more disco/soul/electronic music. The drum solo I would record now would be very different- much more syncopated, more repetitive, more restrained, less fun, better.

This is perfect drumming for me now: